November 13, 2009

CROSSWORD #147

Liz got up at 5:15 this morning, so by extension that meant I was up that early. My body clock sez it's lunchtime right around now. Good times.

So, I got a chance to do the daily puzzles before the blog post which was great for a change. (No spoilers for those so don't worry.) I thought Dana Motley's NY Times puzzle was great in sort of "just folks" kind of way. (I hope that doesn't sound condescending, I like a lot of her work.) Nothing flashy per se, but her grids are so workmanlike and deceptively wide-open that it's a refreshing change from the regular white chunks in normal themeless puzzles. Sometimes themeless puzzles come across like the constructor is saying "look what I can do." And depending on the puzzlemaker it can be either a wild success, or it can feel like a rote Autofilled computer-generated puzzle. I think Dana's work has a certain grace about it that doesn't really come across as showing off, but I do find her to have a very unique style. And standing out among the crowd certainly accounts for something in this biz.

Amy Reynaldo said in her blog write up about Dana's puzzle: "Rumor has it such a grid is easier to fill than the stack-heavy ones are." Let's kill that rumor right now, shall we? (Who started that rumor anyway?) Basically these grids are no different than a themed puzzle, and Lord knows I've made more than a few themed puzzles with themeless-level word counts (three examples are here, here, and here). And to continue to prove the point, and set up a little creative collaboration, send me suggestions for the long entries in a Dana Motley-esque puzzle via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. The most interesting entries, will be the starting points for Monday's Themeless puzzle.

In the meantime, share the puzzle. New Dana-Motley-esque puzzle on Monday.

Comments

Liz got up at 5:15 this morning, so by extension that meant I was up that early. My body clock sez it's lunchtime right around now. Good times.

So, I got a chance to do the daily puzzles before the blog post which was great for a change. (No spoilers for those so don't worry.) I thought Dana Motley's NY Times puzzle was great in sort of "just folks" kind of way. (I hope that doesn't sound condescending, I like a lot of her work.) Nothing flashy per se, but her grids are so workmanlike and deceptively wide-open that it's a refreshing change from the regular white chunks in normal themeless puzzles. Sometimes themeless puzzles come across like the constructor is saying "look what I can do." And depending on the puzzlemaker it can be either a wild success, or it can feel like a rote Autofilled computer-generated puzzle. I think Dana's work has a certain grace about it that doesn't really come across as showing off, but I do find her to have a very unique style. And standing out among the crowd certainly accounts for something in this biz.

Amy Reynaldo said in her blog write up about Dana's puzzle: "Rumor has it such a grid is easier to fill than the stack-heavy ones are." Let's kill that rumor right now, shall we? (Who started that rumor anyway?) Basically these grids are no different than a themed puzzle, and Lord knows I've made more than a few themed puzzles with themeless-level word counts (three examples are here, here, and here). And to continue to prove the point, and set up a little creative collaboration, send me suggestions for the long entries in a Dana Motley-esque puzzle via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. The most interesting entries, will be the starting points for Monday's Themeless puzzle.

In the meantime, share the puzzle. New Dana-Motley-esque puzzle on Monday.

Brendan Emmett Quigley has been a professional puzzlemaker since 1996. In fact, he's the sixth-most published constructor in The New York Times under Will Shortz's editorship. Brendan's puzzles have also appeared in every major market including Creators Syndicate, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Crosswords Club, Dell Champion, Games Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Sun, Tribune Media Services, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

He regularly contributes work to The AV Crossword Club, Bawdy Crosswords, Spirit Magazine, Visual Thesaurus, and The Weekly Dig. At one point in time, Blender, Electronic Business, Paste Magazine, Quarterly Review of Wines, The Stranger, Time Out New York, and Wired.com ran his work. His puzzles have been mentioned on episodes of "The Colbert Report," "Jeopardy!," and "Sunday Night Football."

He is the author of over thirty different books. In his spare time he can be seen banging on typewriters in the Boston Typewriter Orchestra.
He will be posting two puzzles a week — on Monday and Thursday.
Email Brendan